Variety (June 1954)

rtcwnmm Mosaff 'WtAmtjxf i Jraw .2, 19§4 With hardly a^iy favorable fac- tors and numerous handicaps such fts local transit striker and weak product, flbfst-rtitt situations stag- gered through May. The dearth of new, strong fare made itself felt In numerous comparatively weak grosses. Effect of the 10% admis- sion tax slash was not felt to any extent, and now exhibitors figure It will take about four months more before full beneficial effect of this tax reduction is fully re- flected boxoffice-wise. Product dearth, brought out mahy reissues, Oddly enough, this business downbeat was not reflected much among the^op six grossers during May. First place in the boxoffice derby was won by "Executive Suite” (M-G) by a wide masgln, This .all-star drama finished first every week in the.month, Showing a total gross of $1,090-,000 in key cities covered by Variety. “River of No Return” (20tji) wound up second. The popularity ©f Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum went far in putting this ‘‘western” across at the wickets. Some exhibitors were inclined to feel that C'Scope contributed only * a minor segment to the b.o. up- lift on this pic. “Cinerama” (Indie), Which was second in April, wound Up in third place. “Knock on Wood” (Par) captured fourth position although the limited number of playdates, dur- ing the month mitigated against a heavy-total gross. The Danny Kaye comedy, rated by some exbibs as his funniest, was strong to terrific in the spots where playing. It like- ly will-he heard, from considerably :more in the future. “Elephant Walk,” another Para- mount release, is taking fifth spot, a position it held consistently most ©f the month. “Carnival Story” (RKO). wound (Continued on page 18) LIST CANDIDATES FOR 13 ACAD BOARD POSTS Hollywood, June 1. . Candidates for 13 places on the Board of Governors of the Acad- emy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were announced by pres- ident Charles Brackett. They are: - Actors—Williani Holden, Dean Jagger, Mercedes McCambridge and Donna Reed. Administrators—Y. Frank Free- man, Jesse L. Lasky and E. J. Man- nix. Art Directors—Feild M. Gray. Hugh B. Hunt, Wi.trd Ihnen, Lyl-j . JR. Wheeler and Joseph Charles Bright. Cinematographers — John W Boyle, William H. Daniels, George J. Folsey, A. L. Gilks, Ray Renna- han and Sidney P. Solow, Directors—Delmer Daves, George Marshall, H. C. Potter, George Stevens and King Vidor. Executives — William Gordon. Fred L. Metzler, Lester W. Roth and E. L. Scanlon. Film Editors—Folrhar Blangsted, Richard H. Cahoon, William A. Lyon, Alma Ruth Macrorie, Charles A. Nelson, James E. Newcom and Ralph E. Winters. Music—Herschel Burke Gilbert, Edward B. Powell, Ned Washing- ton and Paul Francis Webster. Producers:—Buddy Adler, Louis F. Edelman, William Perlbesg and Sol C. Siegel. Public Relations—-Teet Carle, John C. Flinn, George Lait and Joseph P. Reddy. Short Subjects—Stephen Bosus- tow, Carl Dudley, Jerry Fairbanks and ■ Harry Tytie. Sound-—John O. Aalberg, Lorin B. Grignon, Vernon W. Kramer and Louis Mesenkop. ' Writers—Sydney Boehm, Valen- tine Davies, Helen Deutsch and George Seaton. Voting deadline is May 31. May’s Top Nine 1. "Executive Suite” (M-G). 2. “River No Return” (20th). 3. “Cinerama” (Indie). 4. “Knock on Wood” (Par). 5. “Elephant Walk” (Par). 6. “Carnival Story” (RKO). 7. “French Line” (RKO). 8. “Prince Valiant” (20th). 9. “Miami Story” (Col). y.> mn realigns sales Exhibs Still Cite C’Scope Problems Although the controversy relat- ing to Cinemascope has largely subsided, there's no end to new twists* in distrlb-exhib relations In the sale of the • widescreen prod- uct. , * *» Newest beef is that exhibs with ClnemaScope equipment are being penalized because they’re “progres- sive” in desiring to show the pic- ture the Cinemascope way. Exam- ple cited by the Allied States Gulf States unit is the case of the the- atre, a sub-run situation, which was .asked how It wanted to play Warner Bros/ “The Command.” The exhibitor said he wanted to show the film in ClnemaScope. Ac- cording to the Allied unit, the exhib was ..told it would cost him 2V6%'more to play it in the wide- screen manner. The Gulf States outfit charges that’s “putting a pen- alty on a progressive exhibitor.” . Another Southern squawk relates to the high percentage terms for C’Scope product. This example is cited: “This is a precedent busi- ness, and if we continue to allow upped prices for pictures just be- cause they are in CinemaScope, re- gardless of later adjustment, we are o^t of business. When an ex- hibitor plays ’Knights of the Round Table’ (C’Scope) at 50% to a $1,800 gross, and The Long Long Trailer’ (2-D) to a $2,900 gross at 40%, how long do you think it will take film companies to claim all good 2-D pictures at 60%? The claim will be this is - out-grossing Cinema- ; Scope and is worth more.” Boslotf Area IndWe* Buffalo And Albany flute iOwpiW New North-East sales ’division t has taen created b£ aota-Epx./ as J p£rt of an overall personnel and branch office realignment. Th$ new division will consist; of.'Boston, New Haven,,-Buffalo and Albany with headquarters in Boston. {Sec- tion is headed,up by; J- M. Cpn- nolly, formerly manager of the Bos- ton exchange.. - „ . There are other changes, all ef- fective as of last week (24). Mar- tin Moskowitz, formerly Empire State division manager, takes over the revised 'Atlantic division con- sisting of New York, Philadelphia ahd Washington. He’ll continue to headquarter in the N. Y. branch. 20th’s Pittsburgh exchange, for- merly in the • Atlantic division, is beiiig added to the central division under T. O. McCleaster, central di- vision manager. John Feloney, for- mer Boston office sales manager, takes over managership of the ex- change with John Peckos, Boston By MIKE WEAR exchange' salesman, promoted to . Bulls: in film, production and film sales manager. In the west, Bryan theatre stocks were highly encour- Stone has resigned as assistant aged by the showings'made by western division sales manager and these issues In last week’s stock, is being-succeeded by Reville Knif- market. Wall Street had to con- fin, formerly assistant branch man- tend with the usual lack, of inter- Republic’s 25c Divvy Republic Picture* last Week de- clared 25c dividend per share on its preferred stock. Melon is payable July 1 to stock-* holders of record June 10, Amusement Shares ager in Los Angeles. Perspecta Sets COMPO ON DUALS General Public’s Taste Vs. Minority Cited Noisy Moving to advance the use of Perspecta directional sound abroad, demonstrations of the stereophonic sound process will Jpe held in more than 40 important film centers, overseas within the next three months. The shows for the trade and press . are being sponsored jointly by Metro, Warner Bros, and Paramount,' the three companies which have adopted tbe Perspecta system for all their pictures. Seven demonstrations have been completed abroad, with dates for 13 additional showings 'already set. Dates for other demonstrations will be fixed in the near future. Arthur~M. Loeyv, prexy of Loew’s International.* announced the sign- ing of licensing agreements for the manufacture and able of Perspecta units with several firms abroad, including Microtechnica of Turin, and Cinemeccanica of Milan, Italy; the Brockliss-Simplex Co. of France,, and the Japan Victor Co. of Tokyo. Active negotiations are under way with other manufactur- ers in other parts of the world. LoeW’s^Inc., which owns 50% of Perspecta sound, has received word th§t the ABC Circuit of Eng- land will equip their theatres with est as the long holiday weekend approached on Friday (28), since no trading on Monday (31). Reason for this cheerful attitude, by trad- ers favoring the upside, in picture and film theatre shares was that they reached new high ground or came close to old tops. After several brokerage houses tippe^L that they, favored film theatre issues over pix company stocks, the market* confounded such an idea in last week’s trading when picture issues (repped by companies producing and distrib- uting films) were taken in hand and pushed considerably higher. Three of them hit new highs for the-year. An example of this* bullish senti- ment towards film shares,- as against, pix theatre Stocks, was the- new high for the year registered by Universal common. It hit 23 Va on Wednesday, best figure in 1954, (Continued on page 18) COMBINE CIRCUITS Exhibitor# 4nd r gomfe distributors were doing a bum last week over the Omaha speech by Motion Pic- ture Assn, of America *prexy Eric Johnston in. which he evaluated the possibilities of home subscription- television,. Speech, which didn’t advocate toll-tv but appeared to mai.y to endorse It, drew tart comment [•among industries particularly since it was. felt It would strengthen the hand of fee-tv petitioners be- fore the .Federal Communications Commission. Question was asked, too, why, when Johnston intended to tread on such ‘ sensitive ground, he didn’t clear his remarks with the MPAA board. One prominent exec stated that, had this been done, the 4 home-pay tv “ portion of the' speech would never have been de- livered. In an unusually forthright statement, Walter Reade Jr., pres- ident of Theatre Owners of Amer- ica, labelled the Johnston remarks as “shocking” and added that they showed “a lack of understanding of the economics' of the motion pic- ture and television industries.” Reade went on; “As a spokes- man for MPAA, Mr. Johnston has placed all segments of the motion I picture industry in a compromising position by implying that an in- crease irf the number of television stations and the development of home pay-as-you-see television will be helpful to production; distri- (Continued' on page 24) United Paramount Streamlines Dixie Operations Perspecta sound. Installation will Ten»ke? , ta , anHl^ I th? i mftfl7nS t proceed immediately, to permit the If"??™’ ? ° u ‘« Perennial questions re the con- tinued existence of double features are being answered in the latest COMPO ad, “Those Doggone Dou- ble-Features!” appearing in Editor 8c Publisher. Copy points out that here is a case of vociferous minority obscur- ing the entertainment tastes of the broad audience which, by all b.o. counts, prefers double features and deserts the theatre that drop ’em. Ad cites the instance of the house that switched to single features. Its gross dropped 25%. When double features resumed, business -went back to normal levels. “Theatres have experimented re- peatedly to eliminate double fea- tures,” the ad, 14th in a series, says. “We know of no successors in these experiments. It seems that so long as any theatres in the area show double features, other thea tres do not dare go against the wishes of the bargain-hunting cus tomers.” COMPO suggests a. solution, but nixes it in the same breath. “If all theatres in a competitive area had a single-feature policy there would be no problem. But theatre operators like ‘scootR*, too, and uni- fied action is as rare in our busi ness as in yours.” I ,, Aboaf Heads for Barcelona Americo Aboaf, Universal for- eign sales manager, left N. Y. over the weekend to attend U’s 1954 European sales convention in Bar- celona, Spain. Powwow opens June 7. Aboaf, who’ll tour U exchanges following the confab) was accom- panied by Felix Sommer, his as- sistant. ... 3 Get Legion’s ‘B’ Hollywood, June 1, National Legion of Decency handed “B” ratings to three pic- tures as objectional in part. Films are 20th-Fox’s “River of No Re turn,” Republic’s “Laughing Anne” and United Artists’ “The Long Wait”... New Orleans, June 1. Two wholly-owned United Para- mount subsid circuits in the south have been consolidated for pur- poses of streamling the operation. Tenarken Paramount Theatres, op- erating seven houses In the area, has been merged with Paramount Gulf Theatres, extensive chain based in New Orleans. showing of Perspecta prints on the ABC Circuit of. “Knights of the Round Table,” “Rose Marie,” “Stu- dent Prince” and “Rhapsody.” der the new setyp. Gaston Dureau continues as head of Gulf States, as well as Tenarken. AL CROWN BACK IN U.S. AFTER HUSTON HUDDLES I A1 Crown, prexy of Moulin Pro- ductions, returned from England Thursday (27) after conferring with John Huston on production plans for . “Moby Dick,” which Warner Bros, will release. Crown also discussed a number of co-pro- duction deals with James and John I Woolf of Romulus Films and com- pleted arrangements for a joint ef- fort on “I Am a Camera.” The John Van Druten play .produced on Broadway in 1951 will be filmed in England in the fall under the ban- ner of both Moulin and Romulus. Huston’s-tie with Moulin served to set the stage for his stock- option deal with' Allied Artists as a producer-director-writer. AA v.p. Harold J. Mirisch and G, Ralph Branlon, also an A A v.p., are as- sociated with Moulin Productions and were .also, involved in the financing and Western Hemisphere distribution of Huston’s “Moulin Rouge” and their association with Huston on this project and on “Moby Dick” eventually led to the signing of the pact wiili Allied Artists. 'Oklahoma’ Leads Set Hollywood, June 3. Plum role of Curley in “Okla- homa’’ has gone to Gordon Mac- Rafe. Femme lead will be Shirley Jpnes,' ^Operetta will be made In 65m. Todd-AO method* N. Y. to L. A. Harry Belafonte Henry Cornelius Henry Fonda Joseph Kaufman Burl Ives Harry Loud Raymond Massey Dolph Schadler David O. Selznick L. A-toN. Y. Harry Ackerman Mari Aldon Irving Allen Raymond Burr. Broderick Crawford David Diamond Edward Dmytryk Frank Fay Helen Ferguson . Robert Fierman Zsa Zsa Gabor Ben Hecht Harold Hecht James Wbng Howe Anna Karon Kurt Kaszner Janet Leigh Diana Lynn Mercedes McCambridge Lauritz Melchior ' Jeff Morrow Milton Racfettiil A1 Ritz Dale Robertson Henry Rogers Frank Ross Patti Page Dorothy Patrick Betta St. John Robert Strauss. Eddie Sutherland Shelley Winters Herbert J. Yates ‘SUITE’ SHAPES AS TOPS SINCE ‘IVANHOE’ “Executive Suite” promises to be Metro’s biggest grosser since Tvanhoe,” based on initial 200 playdates, with a chance of top- ping that smash moneygetter. This would make it the company’s big- gest hit at >the boxoffice in .recent years. “Suite” has racked up nearly $1,845,000 in this first string of engagements, the top single situation being the N.Y. Music Hall, which will wind up its first four weeks today. (Wed.) with a total of about $658,000. Pic goes six weeks, and possibly’ longer at the Hall with better than $900,000 gross assured for first six ’weeks. “Suite” is running neck-’n-neck with “tvanhoe” in six divisions. The Metro southern division shows $245,000 for first 40 play- dates. The eastern division in- (Continued on page 18) N. Y. to Europe Donald Albery Americo Aloaf Rudolf Bing O. O. Bottorff Scott Brady Gertrude Bromberg Jean-Michel Damase Martin Feinstein Bill Finch Tay Garnett Betty Garrett Joan Greenwood “Sol HUrok Harry'M. Kalmine Grace Kelly Anne Jackson Marks Levine Goddard‘ Lieberson Vera Lynn Cele McLaughlin David Niven Ray Noble Donald Oenslager _ Larry Parks Barbara Rush George Schaefer Robert E. Sherwood Sloan Simpson Dickie Valentine Richard Widmark Europe to N. Y. Erik Blllquist Irving Brecher Al Crown Grete Eberth Irene Eaure Frank M. Folsom Ava Gardner Bob Hector Phyllis Kirk John B. Nathan Arnold M. Picker Adolfo' don Ronco Spyros P. Skouras